Trouble Calls
by EmeraldMagpie
Summary: What started out as the worst blind date Naruto had ever been on leads to a love, and a deadly situation, that could never have been predicted. SasuNaru.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: Trouble Calls

**Author**: EmeraldMagpie

**Chapter**: 1/?

**Rated**: M (As defined by FF .net, an M rating means that: content is not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with non-explicit suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, or coarse language.)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto!

**Summary**: What started out as the worst blind date Naruto had ever been on leads to a love, and a deadly situation, that could never have been predicted.

**A/N**: Hiya, I'm Maggie, and this is the first chapter to the first story I'm posting on here! I really hope that you like it, and if you could tell me what you think, point out an mistakes or give me constructive criticism that'd be great ^_^

ALSO! Just in case you're confused, there will be no FULL sex scenes in this story, just snippets of them and things like that. The rating is mostly for language and violence (in future chapters)... maybe some grinding? I've heard that FF .net is cracking down on sex scenes and stuff, so I'm just playing it safe!

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**1**

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Naruto made his escape as quickly as he could. As soon as that old woman had walked off to the bathroom he'd set an alarm on his phone to go off in fifteen minutes, allowing him an excuse to get up from the table to take his 'important call.'

When she'd come back he'd respectfully suffered through her questions, answering as enthusiastically as he was able. When his phone rang he politely excused himself from the table, breathing a sigh of relief as he walked from the table.

He took the 'call' outside of the restaurant, pulling his jacket on against the cold, and tried to take a calming breath. When the winter air proved ineffective against his rage, he dialled Kiba's number with already numbing fingers.

He waited impatiently as the phone rang, imagining his fist slamming into Kiba's face for the shit he'd just pulled. _Fucking asshole_, he thought.

As soon as the ringing stopped and he heard the person on the other end begin to speak he hissed, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

The person on the other end paused and then chuckled. A deep sound that made Naruto shiver and tense up. He pulled the phone away from his ear, and stared at it confusedly. That certainly didn't sound like Kiba's voice on the other end of the phone.

"Uh… Kiba?" he asked hopefully.

"No," the man responded.

"Oh…" Naruto paused for a second, and considered the situation. He realized, suddenly, that he'd called the wrong number, and started to panic. "Oh my God. Oh God. I didn't—And I completely—You're—Oh God."

The man sounded amused when he answered. "I can't recall anyone ever calling me God."

Irritated at being made fun of, Naruto scowled and gripped his phone tightly in his hand. "Can you _recall_ anyone ever calling you an asshat?"

"Yes," he responded, less amused this time, "but they came to regret it, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, you bastard!"

"Recent events prove otherwise." Naruto thought that maybe the man sounded a tad bit miffed.

"'Recent events prove otherwise'," he mimicked, scrunching up his nose in distaste at the words. "Even when you're _upset_ you talk like a spoiled brat with a stick up his ass."

Naruto heard the bastard mumble something to low for him to hear. He waited a few seconds for a proper response, becoming more irritated as the silence dragged on between them. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to Naruto, The Infuriating One deigned to speak once more to the lowly peasant Naruto was suspecting the man thought him to be.

"You have no idea who you're speaking to."

It was posed as a statement, though it seemed like he wanted an answer. Naruto wondered, briefly, if the guy was incapable of asking a question.

"So you're a _stupid_ spoiled brat with a stick up his ass? I judged you _completely_ wrong." Naruto said sarcastically.

He heard an indignant sound from the other end of the line, almost like a growl. "You're more of an idiot than I'd presumed."

"You're more of an _ass_ than I'd presumed," he returned without missing a beat.

The man made the same sound at the back of his throat and Naruto was positive now that he was _actually_ growling. Before the guy could say anything, he threw out another insult. "Are you growling at me? _Oh_. I understand now; you're a pampered pup who hasn't gotten enough attention lately. No wonder you're so—" he paused, trying to find the right word "—irritable."

"You're really asking for it," the man replied, his voice suddenly calm. Naruto felt himself freeze, and it wasn't because he was still standing outside in winter.

It was one thing to get a guy so riled up that he was yelling, and an entirely different situation if you got the guy so upset he stopped. Stopped yelling and stopped sounding at all upset. Naruto tensed, as though he were bracing himself against an unseen blow, and glanced around the street for an attacker.

Seeing no one, and being stubborn enough not to be daunted by some bastard he didn't even know, he retorted, "So are you."

The line was silent for a few seconds, before Naruto heard the sound of feet, a quiet conversation and the shuffling of papers. He opened his mouth to say something about not liking to be kept waiting, when the man finally began to speak again.

"You called looking for someone named Kiba," he stated blandly. "He works at the kennel near his apartment."

Naruto froze for a moment, alarmed.

"How the _fuck_ do you know that?" he snarled, anger and worry filling him. Who the hell was this guy?!

"That's not how this works, _Naruto_," the prick said, speaking the name with distaste clear in his voice. Naruto's breath caught in his throat at the sound of his name. The man continued, his voice regaining some of its previous malice, "I told you not to fuck around. You can't decide now that you don't want to play."

"What the hell are you talking about?" he growled.

The man chuckled, an unhappy sound that grated on Naruto's nerves, and said, "You started this game Naruto; you can't tell me now that you don't know the rules."

"Okay, dude, whoever you are," Naruto began, "I don't know what you think is happening here, but I think you have some serious mental issues that you need to get worked out."

"So I was right, you _do_ understand the game," the man responded, somehow sounding both amused and annoyed. "It's odd for a blonde to possess any intelligence."

"Listen, psycho, I dunno who you are, or what the fuck you think you're talking about, but you make about as much sense as letters in math," Naruto huffed, baffled by the situation, and angry that the bastard seemed to know so much about him when he didn't even know who the guy was.

"'Letters in math'," the man repeated, his voice losing some of its harsh edge.

"Yeah," Naruto responded, latching onto the most normal topic of conversation to present itself since the bastard had answered the phone. "They make no sense being there. I swear, those math guys only stuck'em in there to piss people off."

Naruto could almost hear the smirk on the bastards face when he replied, "Yes, I'm sure that was their sole intention."

"It worked too, you ass, every time I opened that goddamn textbook I wanted to rip my hair out."

"I can only imagine," the man responded, "how entertaining that was for your classmates."

Naruto flushed, and ran a hand through his hair absently. "No," he started defensively, and cleared his throat when his voice came out in a higher pitch than usual. "I mean, 'No'."

"Right." Naruto was positive the man was amused again now.

For maybe the first time in his life, Naruto had no witty—or stupid—comeback to give. Finally, he settled with, "Um, yeah."

He winced at his weak retort and waited for the bastard to make some sarcastic remark about the blonde being an inarticulate fool.

There was a loud bang on the other end of the line instead. Naruto heard yells, and after a moment the man spoke to him again. Almost mockingly and with a promise of pain—he hadn't forgotten their not so long ago argument—and said "I'll see you soon, Naruto."

And he was gone, leaving Naruto to stare at his phone in confusion. What the hell had just happened?


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Trouble Calls

**Author:** EmeraldMagpie

**Chapter:** 2/?

**Rated:** M (As defined by FF .net, an M rating means that: content is not suitable for children or teens below the age of 16 with non-explicit suggestive adult themes, references to some violence, or coarse language.)

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto!

**Summary:** What started out as the worst blind date Naruto had ever been on leads to a love, and a deadly situation, that could never have been predicted.

**A/N: **Technology literally detests me. Every time I post something on here, a few days later my computer craps out... But here I am! Uploading chapter 2 as quickly as I was able... guess who shows up this time?

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**2**

Naruto slammed his clenched fist onto the counter, rattling cups and causing the warm liquid inside to spill over the sides.

Kiba held his hands up in surrender at the act, and, with a large smile, said, "Sorry, dude, when you said you were looking for a 'mature relationship' I thought you meant you wanted to go at it with an older woman."

Naruto wished he wasn't at work, so he could hit more than just the counter. From where he was standing, Kiba's face looked like a decent replacement.

Kiba laughed at the look on Naruto's face. "Relax, it was just a joke! A 'welcome to the city' prank. I thought you would appreciate it."

He winked, and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Yeah," Naruto replied, "I'm sure that it's got nothing to do with the fact that your girlfriend thinks I'm hot."

"She does not!" Kiba cried, taking a swing at the blonde while Naruto laughed and dodged.

"Does too," Naruto grinned, wiggling his fingers at his friend while the dog lover attempted to climb over the counter.

"Naruto," a sharp voice hissed close to his ear. He jumped at the unexpected noise, and turned to look at his co-worker. He glanced down at her nametag. _Sakura_.

"Stop staring at my boobs you pervert," the girl demanded, glaring at him. "And stop playing around with your silly little friend who smells like a wet dog. You're at work, so start working!"

Naruto grimaced at the words, and heard Kiba squawk indignantly at her jab at him.

"Listen, Pinky," Kiba began, the imaginative nickname a product of the girl's bright pink hair, "I work at a _kennel_, so it's not my fault if I smell like my job."

"Maybe you should get a different job, then. Now if you're not going to buy anything, _leave_," she snarled at him.

"I still can't believe," Naruto broke in, "that you two are friends."

"We're not _friends_," Sakura stated, looking appalled at the idea.

Kiba rolled his eyes at the girl and ignored her comment. "I should get back to the dogs, see ya later Naruto." He turned to leave, and paused, looking back to Sakura. "If he comes in today, tell him I need to see him, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura muttered, wrinkling her nose in a show of distaste.

Naruto waved goodbye as Kiba left.

"Hey, who was the 'him' you guys were—" Naruto started.

Sakura interrupted him with the start of another rant. "Really, Naruto, you've only been here a week. You have to be more focused, or you'll never learn how to do the job properly. You have a remarkably short attention span! I swear, one of these days I'll have to punch you in the gut just to bring you out of those daydreams of yours."

"I'm not daydreaming!" Naruto defended. "I'm… thinking."

Sakura merely raised an eyebrow at the word. Naruto felt insulted without the girl even opening her mouth. "Just because I'm blond doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"You're not stupid because you're blond," she rebutted, "You're _blond_ because you're stupid."

Naruto clutched his heart, and faked a hurt expression, exclaiming dramatically, "You wound me."

The girl looked at him, begrudging amusement on her face. She shook her head, and laughed. "You certainly look wounded. Now stop fooling around, and get working. Iruka hired you because he has a soft spot for troubled youth or whatever, don't make him regret it." Her tone was kinder this time, not as irritatingly bossy as before, but still held an element of authority.

Naruto thought about Iruka, the café owner. He'd had kind brown eyes as he shook Naruto's hand. With a smile he'd bid Naruto to sit down and relax. Apparently, Kiba had told the man about his past, and what he was doing in the city. Naruto hated the idea of getting the job out of pity, but the look on Iruka's face stopped him from speaking his thoughts, and instead resolved to work as hard as he could to pay him back for the chance the man was taking on him.

"Yeah, I got it," Naruto replied, properly chastised just by the memory of the kind café owner.

"Great!" Sakura replied, smiling now. Naruto nodded his head at her, his smile reappearing.

As he turned back to the counter, intending to wipe it down, Sakura called his attention back to her, saying, "Would you mind going to the back to check on Chouji's progress with the dark chocolate/mint cookies? We're running low, and he said he's sick of me asking him every ten seconds."

"You'll watch the register?" he asked, already passing her to get to the kitchen.

Sakura smiled her thanks, and answered his question with one of her own, "What else would I be doing?"

Naruto shook his head and smiled, having no answer. He made his way into the kitchen in the back, and called out to the Master of Sweets.

"Hey, Chouji! How're those cookies coming along?"

"Oh God," the man groaned, "not you too. Tell Sakura they'll be ready when they're ready. You can't rush perfection."

Naruto laughed, and held his hands up in mock surrender. "No rushing here man. Just relax, and finish the cookies."

Chouji rolled his eyes, and wiped his hands on his uniform.

"Go tell the scary pink woman that her damn cookies will be ready for customers in five minutes."

"Yes, sir!" Naruto saluted and left the kitchen, the sound of Chouji's laughter following him out.

When he reached the front, Sakura was no longer behind the display case of the café's desserts. Instead, the girl was standing beside a table, making small talk, or at least trying to. Only one person at the table was talking with her. The man had his scarf still wrapped around himself, covering up the lower half of his face. His silver hair looked natural from where Naruto stood, but, from what he could see of the man's face, he couldn't be older than thirty. The man on the other side of the table sat silently, a small crease between his eyebrows. He looked as though he wasn't even listening to Sakura, but thinking about something else entirely.

Naruto debated the pros and cons of telling Sakura about the cookies while she was talking with them. On the one hand the girl seemed to be paying attention to these customers, they could be regulars and it might be considered rude to interrupt them simply because of cookies. However, Sakura _had_ seemed concerned about the cookies' progress, maybe he should go over to let her know. Maybe someone had ordered one and was told they weren't ready? Whatever the reason, after a minute of deliberation, Naruto decided that he might as well go let her know.

He walked to the table slowly, hoping to get there when Sakura wasn't busy running her mouth off.

"—wanted to talk to you," she paused, waiting for some sort of reaction.

When no one at the table said anything, Naruto took the chance to jump in with his comment. "Chouji said the cookies should be ready in five."

Sakura spun to face him, a strained smile springing to her face. "Oh, Naruto, thank you."

The silver haired man turned to look at Naruto. "Naruto?" he asked, glancing at Sakura.

The girl flushed, and floundered for a second before saying, "Yes, Naruto. He just started working here last week, while you were both away on business. Kiba brought him around, and Iruka couldn't resist hiring him."

Naruto looked between the two for a moment, confused. Sakura, somehow sensing this, began, "Naruto this is Kakashi—" she pointed to the man on her right, with the scarf around his neck "—he's dating Iruka," she paused a moment to let Naruto take in this new information.

Naruto wasn't sure how to tell Sakura that Iruka had already told him that he was dating, and living with, a man. For almost three years, he'd told Naruto proudly. For his part, Naruto had been ecstatic that the man was so in love. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, growing up in a small town where everything he did was scrutinised, Naruto was as open minded as they came. And because of how kind and almost motherly Iruka had been since he'd walked in the door, the blonde found he was becoming somewhat protective of the older man.

So instead of the surprise Sakura expected, Naruto used the pause to study Iruka's boyfriend, partner, whatever you called it, closer. He seemed to be about the right age. Naruto had been right when he'd assumed the silver was natural. Kakashi looked young, but he had laugh lines around his eyes. So, Naruto decided, not old, but not as young as he looked. Like Iruka. He had to have some sense too, wearing that scarf around his neck. There had been some crazy ass weather the last few days.

Inspection done, Naruto turned back to Sakura, grinning. "He seems okay, and the way Iruka gushes he must have at least some good points."

"Ah," Kakashi said, amused, if the twinkle in his eyes was anything to go by, "I'm glad to have your approval."

Naruto briefly wondered if the comment was meant as an insult. However, one look into Kakashi's eyes and he concluded it was a joke.

"You should be; you don't wanna know what I would have to do to you if I thought you were bad for Iruka." Naruto tried to act serious, but by the time he was finished he was grinning again.

Sakura had been startled to learn that Naruto had prior knowledge of Kakashi. She hadn't thought the two of them were this close, or that they'd had _time _to get that close. The surprise must have shown on her face, because Naruto started to talk about how he'd come by the information.

"We had dinner together the first two nights after I started here, while Kakashi was away on some sort of business with his boss or something." He shrugged, signalling it wasn't that big a deal.

Sakura couldn't believe how nonchalant Naruto was being about the situation. It _was_ a big deal, even if he didn't know it. Yet, she amended mentally. She was sure, if he was as good at making friends with people who weren't soft-hearted mother hens, he would find out eventually.

A throat clearing grabbed everyone's attention. Naruto looked at the other man, having completely forgotten there was another person at the table. Now that he was looking, though, he found it hard to look away. The guy was gorgeous, and he wondered how he hadn't taken more notice of him. The man's ink black hair, perfectly styled, contrasted his pale skin and gave his dark eyes a piercing, mysterious look. He was dressed like a well-off businessman in a dark suit, and had hung a nice looking black jacket on the back of his chair.

Sakura flushed, and rushed to introduce the other man at the table. "Naruto, this is Sasuke, he works with Kakashi. I guess you could call him the boss. He comes by here pretty often, but he was on that business trip you mentioned so that's why you haven't seen him around. You'll probably see more of him now that he's back—"

"Sakura," Sasuke said quietly. That was all it took for the girl to stop talking. Naruto shifted, uncomfortable with the whole 'I'm better than you' vibe he was getting from the guy. His eyes narrowed in thought, and his hands twitched. That voice sounded familiar.

Naruto was sure that he hadn't met Sasuke before, never even passed him on the street. Sasuke was the kind of person who left an impression on a person, Naruto wouldn't have forgotten him. But the voice was so familiar. It was smooth like silk against bare skin. Just like the man the voice belonged to, it wasn't easily forgotten.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, appearing agitated. Naruto's eyes widened in realization.

"You!" he shouted, pointing at the pale man in accusation.

Sasuke smirked, and said, "I said I would see you soon."

Naruto stared at the man in astonishment, before another realization settled in. He swivelled to look at Sakura. "_This_ asshole is the guy Kiba needed to see?!"

Sasuke growled, and Naruto recognized the sound for the same growls he'd heard last night, over the phone, when he'd tried to call Kiba. He groaned loudly in something akin to despair. He'd been half hoping the whole thing was a dream.

"Shut _up_, Naruto!" Sakura hissed, "You'll scare away our customers!"

Naruto wanted to point out that it didn't really matter, since they'd already paid for there food or whatever the hell it was they'd ordered but found that he couldn't quite pull his attention from Sasuke.

Sakura huffed, annoyed at being ignored. She smoothed down her apron and said, "If you must know, Kiba left his phone at Sasuke's… business. He wants to meet with Sasuke so he can get it back."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Naruto said, holding his hands up in the universal sign meaning 'stop', "So I _didn't_ get the wrong number?"

"No, idiot," Sasuke answered, "you got the right number."

Naruto shot the dark haired man a glare instead of answering. He was too busy mentally patting himself on the back to answer him. He'd felt like an idiot for misremembering his best friend's number. It wasn't _his_ fault that Kiba hadn't answered the phone.

Sasuke interrupted his thoughts, clearly annoyed. "Stop looking so satisfied. Don't think for a second that you're getting away with what you did."

Sakura glared at Naruto when Sasuke finished. "What did you do?" she asked, a menacing aura beginning to surround her.

"I dunno, the guy's a psycho, anything could've upset him," Naruto replied, rubbing the back of his head.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "You must have been dropped you on your head a lot as a child. No one could be born as stupid as you."

"Take that back, you bastard," Naruto growled, hands curling into fists.

"Not likely."

"I wasn't giving you an option," Naruto snarled. "Take it back or I'll shove my fist down your throat and remove the icicle shoved up your ass."

Kakashi shifted in his seat, uncomfortable with the way the blonde was talking to his, for all intents and purposes, boss. Sakura's hands curled into fists, and she glowered at her new co-worker.

Sasuke glared at the blonde, his eyes seeming to darken with his anger. "You'll regret that."

"I didn't regret what I said yesterday, and I don't regret what I said today," Naruto scoffed.

"You will," Sasuke assured.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "You sound like one of those fake psychics you go to where they tell you things like 'your life is currently at a crossroads' or 'you have two paths before you, one will bring you great happiness, the other great misfortune' or something about a tall, dark handsome man in you future."

A crease appeared between Sasuke eyes briefly, before he looked to the blonde, anger forgotten, and said, "You're saying I sound ominous."

Naruto snapped his fingers. "Yes! That's the word I was thinking of. Now that I've heard it though, I think it's a little too dramatic. Gloomy fits you more."

"I'm not gloomy," Sasuke said, a little defensively Naruto thought. "Ominous is a better description of me than _gloomy_."

"I think you're protesting a tad too much," Naruto laughed.

Sasuke just growled in response, and turned to Sakura. "My usual."

"The dark chocolate/mint cookies aren't ready yet," the girl told him, sounding sincerely sorry for it.

Naruto blinked and shot a look to the clock. "Actually they're probably done now. That's why I came over here. Chouji said they'd be ready in five, and its already been more than that."

Sakura looked at him a moment in disbelief. "Why didn't you tell me that earlier?!"

With that, she stomped towards the back, where Chouji was no doubt waiting for her.

"I _did_," he said, more to himself than to her, since she was already in the back. He stared after her, confused by the outburst. He'd come over here _specifically_ to tell her. He'd made a pro and con list in his head for god's sake! Maybe not a long one, but he'd still made one—that had to count for something. She was mad at him, because _she_ didn't remember when he told her the stupid cookies would be ready in five minutes. Naruto would never understand women.

"Don't worry about her, Naruto," Kakashi said, pulling Naruto's attention from pink haired girl. "She's only grumpy because she has a crush on Sasuke."

Sasuke growled again at the mention of the girls affections. Naruto grinned at the reaction. "Not big on the bossy, stubborn type, are you, bastard? No wonder we don't get along."

Kakashi hid his smile behind the scarf, amused by the blonde, and surprised with the way he handled Sasuke so easily. He'd been worried when Iruka told him about the new employee, since he'd been away with Sasuke, but now he could see that, for once, Kiba hadn't been boasting when he'd said Naruto would be good to have around.

Sasuke scoffed at the nickname. "I preferred God, actually."

Naruto smiled mockingly at him. "Well it's a good thing I didn't ask what you preferred then, isn't it bastard?"

He waved at Kakashi, and went back to the cash register. Sasuke glared after him, and though Naruto tried to stay focused on the job he was doing sometimes his eyes still slid over their table. Once or twice he could've sworn Sasuke had been looking at him when he happened to glance over, but the dark haired man always turned back to his conversation, pretending that nothing had happened. By the time Naruto's shift was over Kakashi and his "boss" were long gone.

Naruto walked home, hands stuffed in his coat pockets, earmuffs securely over his ears, and scarf wrapped around his neck, thinking about this new life he was starting to build. He hadn't been hoping for much when Kiba called and told him about the job he could get him. He didn't want to expect too much. But the dog lover had really outdone himself. Not only had he gotten Naruto a job, he'd also found the blonde a place to live.

He shared the apartment with Chouji, the Master of Sweets, and another guy named Shikamaru who Naruto hadn't talked too much but deemed safe enough to live with, since Shikamaru was either asleep or at work. Chouji had told Naruto that Shikamaru worked at a large company, and he spent most of the day working with numbers and figuring things out for them, and it exhausted his brain power. Well, their had been more technical terms in there, like graphing and equations, but Naruto couldn't remember exactly what he'd been told. He figured if it was really necessary he'd ask the sleepy genius himself.

When he got home, he found himself alone. Chouji was back at the café, prepping for tomorrow and Shikimaru was still at work. Naruto made himself some ramen, and then headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. Hair still dripping, he pulled on a pair of boxers and collapsed into bed, exhausted.


End file.
